WEBVTT 00:08.840 --> 00:15.789 [SPEAKER_00]: What is up everybody, welcome to Comic Book Club, I am Alex and we've got a bonus episode for you here today with a great writer. 00:15.949 --> 00:22.137 [SPEAKER_00]: He is behind Sonic the Hedgehog X Godzilla number one from IDW. 00:22.477 --> 00:30.127 [SPEAKER_00]: Pre-orders are coming in hot on June 8th and it's on sale July 15th in comic book stores, but enough business out of the way. 00:30.468 --> 00:33.852 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's bring in our guest Nick Moreno, Nick, welcome to the podcast. 00:34.220 --> 00:35.462 [SPEAKER_00]: by Alex how you doing. 00:36.183 --> 00:37.344 [SPEAKER_00]: I am doing great. 00:37.444 --> 00:40.809 [SPEAKER_00]: Always a great day when I can talk Sonic the Hedgehog and Godzilla. 00:40.829 --> 00:50.982 [SPEAKER_00]: Now I have a question for you not to put you on the spot, but on a couple of episodes back we actually talked to you Ian Flynn about Sonic the Hedgehog and Justice League. 00:51.683 --> 00:53.766 [SPEAKER_00]: He gave me a pronunciation for the X. 00:54.046 --> 00:55.889 [SPEAKER_00]: You also have an X in your title. 00:56.389 --> 00:57.250 [SPEAKER_00]: How do you pronounce it? 00:58.172 --> 00:58.432 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. 00:58.652 --> 01:02.337 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going by when I call the spy family rule. 01:02.840 --> 01:08.373 [SPEAKER_01]: which as I learned when I went to a crunchy roll then, first by family one time, don't say the X. 01:09.015 --> 01:18.377 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, in my head, do I say the X every time I read the title of course I do, but when I'm talking about it on these shows and stuff like that, I'm currently not saying the X. 01:18.477 --> 01:19.600 [SPEAKER_01]: What did he do? 01:19.580 --> 01:20.541 [SPEAKER_00]: say he likes to do. 01:21.202 --> 01:28.551 [SPEAKER_00]: He said cross is what he says, but I also brought up the spy family rule as well because that would have what are heard. 01:29.091 --> 01:39.463 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, what I do is every time I read a title like this, I'll read it as like Sonic the Hedgehog and then I'll completely flop whatever is next because I don't know what I'm going to say and then I say godzilla. 01:39.483 --> 01:41.285 [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, cross is great. 01:41.326 --> 01:48.574 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, you know, I was doing a show with um, I don't know, somebody 01:48.554 --> 01:49.595 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's good. 01:49.656 --> 01:50.397 [SPEAKER_01]: That's good. 01:50.857 --> 01:52.600 [SPEAKER_01]: I like it like that in that sense. 01:52.620 --> 01:53.321 [SPEAKER_01]: I would say this. 01:53.861 --> 01:57.226 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't really mind what people say as long as they don't say versus. 01:58.969 --> 01:59.049 [SPEAKER_00]: Hmm. 01:59.069 --> 01:59.349 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. 01:59.369 --> 02:05.898 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, let's dig into that then, in terms of the story, why is it not sadtick the hedgehog versus Godzilla? 02:05.958 --> 02:09.263 [SPEAKER_00]: What is different about cross or ax or whatever you want to call it? 02:09.732 --> 02:11.414 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'll say this. 02:11.554 --> 02:15.800 [SPEAKER_01]: The title is the one thing on this project that predates my involvement. 02:15.940 --> 02:23.991 [SPEAKER_01]: It was the end of a slide show that my then-headed or Jasmine joiner was showing me where I had a completely different sonic pitch. 02:24.111 --> 02:25.633 [SPEAKER_01]: Or excuse me, take that back. 02:25.693 --> 02:26.274 [SPEAKER_01]: Completely different. 02:26.514 --> 02:29.558 [SPEAKER_01]: Godzilla pitch for something else. 02:29.658 --> 02:31.741 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is in 2020, summer of 2022. 02:32.983 --> 02:37.849 [SPEAKER_01]: And I saw that slide at the end because they were showing me what was in the rest of the presentation and I was like, 02:38.740 --> 02:40.221 [SPEAKER_01]: Who's doing that? 02:40.442 --> 02:41.723 [SPEAKER_01]: And they were like no one. 02:41.743 --> 02:43.705 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, could it? 02:44.045 --> 02:44.906 [SPEAKER_01]: Could it be me? 02:44.926 --> 02:46.147 [SPEAKER_01]: And they were like, well, you could pitch it? 02:46.167 --> 02:46.368 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 02:46.968 --> 02:49.471 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's just always been that way. 02:49.951 --> 02:56.258 [SPEAKER_01]: In my mind, I've never seen it as a versus story, at least not what it comes to Sonic and Godzilla. 02:56.298 --> 02:58.600 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, I'm not saying that these two don't fight. 02:59.000 --> 02:59.160 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. 02:59.581 --> 03:00.662 [SPEAKER_01]: That would just be a lie. 03:00.722 --> 03:01.823 [SPEAKER_01]: Of course they fight. 03:01.903 --> 03:03.685 [SPEAKER_01]: You want to see them fight. 03:03.665 --> 03:08.031 [SPEAKER_01]: But I don't think the nature of this conflict is that they are adversaries. 03:08.532 --> 03:33.587 [SPEAKER_01]: I think the nature of this conflict is that in our particular case, which this was not always the way it was, but this is how it's become, as it's evolved over the years and taken on its kind of form that you see now when you read our first issue, it's about these massive monsters breaching the reality of someone at this world and entering it and just causing absolute mayhem. 03:33.567 --> 03:46.659 [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know, I mean, yeah, it is versus in the sense that you don't want them to destroy everything, but from my perspective, the kind you are not necessarily enemies, they're aggravated in their displaced. 03:47.921 --> 03:51.084 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's kind of the joy of Godzilla, right? 03:51.204 --> 04:01.954 [SPEAKER_00]: Like there have been Godzilla movies and Godzilla, other things, is where it's a character who comes in and is very much the 04:01.934 --> 04:05.258 [SPEAKER_00]: recent the more modern look at him is, well, he's a creature. 04:05.518 --> 04:09.422 [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes he has a job to do, but he's kind of there. 04:09.482 --> 04:11.705 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just all about destruction. 04:11.725 --> 04:12.746 [SPEAKER_00]: Is that how you see him? 04:13.526 --> 04:15.068 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, I agree with you completely. 04:15.088 --> 04:18.151 [SPEAKER_01]: I think of Godzilla really as a sentient force of nature. 04:19.112 --> 04:23.757 [SPEAKER_01]: This is, if you want it, this isn't necessarily something that comes through in the book per se, what I'm about to say. 04:24.318 --> 04:28.903 [SPEAKER_01]: But you know, I think Godzilla is, we 04:28.883 --> 04:32.628 [SPEAKER_01]: humanness made Godzilla the tower that Godzilla is. 04:32.789 --> 04:37.655 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't necessarily, from my perspective, know that Godzilla's default state. 04:38.156 --> 04:47.209 [SPEAKER_01]: And as we've seen in tons of different fantastic Godzilla stories, sometimes Godzilla's the hero, sometimes Godzilla's the enemy, sometimes Godzilla is somewhere in between, both are neither. 04:47.990 --> 04:54.199 [SPEAKER_01]: And the way I like to write the character, my preferred version 04:54.179 --> 05:01.297 [SPEAKER_01]: Godzilla is volatile, but there's a there's a conscience in there. 05:01.337 --> 05:11.243 [SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to quantify what it is, but there's an ethical aspect to the character that if you yourself are acting ethically, you hope the character concerns. 05:12.168 --> 05:17.513 [SPEAKER_00]: But let's take the other side of the X than what draws you to Sonic the Hedgehog. 05:17.574 --> 05:19.936 [SPEAKER_00]: What do you feel like the core of that franchise is? 05:20.737 --> 05:22.499 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm more basic when it comes to Sonic. 05:22.879 --> 05:28.104 [SPEAKER_01]: I just love the simple concept of a little blue hedgehog that can run really fast. 05:28.565 --> 05:29.205 [SPEAKER_01]: And I love all this. 05:29.726 --> 05:30.607 [SPEAKER_01]: I just love the colors. 05:30.847 --> 05:31.968 [SPEAKER_01]: I love the excitement of it. 05:32.329 --> 05:37.534 [SPEAKER_01]: I think that we have what we're so fortunate in our fiction fantasy landscape that we 05:37.514 --> 05:44.207 [SPEAKER_01]: have so many deep ideas connected to so many characters and I'm not here telling you that Sonic can't be deep, of course, Sonic can be deep. 05:44.667 --> 05:55.067 [SPEAKER_01]: And in particular, some of our characters like Amy Rose, they get kind of deep in the story, but with that said, I do think that we 05:56.228 --> 05:58.933 [SPEAKER_01]: have something very special here with Sonic the Hedgehog. 05:59.514 --> 06:08.069 [SPEAKER_01]: In that, you can add whatever you want to look but when you strip it back, it's just really fun to see this little blue ball of speed moving along. 06:08.089 --> 06:09.251 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a great thing, you know? 06:09.311 --> 06:14.200 [SPEAKER_01]: And then every character that comes in is adding a little visual and tonal contrast. 06:15.001 --> 06:19.890 [SPEAKER_01]: That's just a fun world play and plus, I just love talking animal comics, I always have. 06:19.870 --> 06:29.989 [SPEAKER_00]: I've already talked the major words in the title, so why not also hit the X because I am always interested in how people hit crossover comics. 06:30.009 --> 06:39.988 [SPEAKER_00]: There's, you know, there's tropes, as I'm sure you know very well from comic books in terms of how you can set up a crossover, sometimes it's like, ooh, a portal is open up in our world. 06:39.968 --> 06:45.639 [SPEAKER_00]: You take the other tack and I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler but it just kind of is like they're just kind of there. 06:45.820 --> 06:55.940 [SPEAKER_00]: So, which honestly I sort of prefer rather than being like we have to figure out some very complicated sci-fi mechanics to get these two people together when the fun part is there together. 06:55.960 --> 07:00.930 [SPEAKER_00]: So was that the impetus there or how did you approach this as a crossover? 07:01.315 --> 07:06.420 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll tell you, that has had so many iterations throughout the development process. 07:07.241 --> 07:12.065 [SPEAKER_01]: I played around with a lot of different options. 07:12.125 --> 07:18.452 [SPEAKER_01]: So for example, time is a great thing to play with to try and bring characters together. 07:18.792 --> 07:21.615 [SPEAKER_01]: That was one option that I explored very, really on my pitches. 07:22.435 --> 07:30.343 [SPEAKER_01]: And we liked to aspects of it, but we agreed that it could be problematic for the way that the rules of the world sometimes work with Sonic. 07:31.015 --> 07:50.965 [SPEAKER_01]: we have at times have very complex explanations for why the chi-jou are able to be in Sonic's world, but ultimately, as I refine this more and more and interestingly, very much due to the X, but not for the reasons you might expect. 07:51.181 --> 07:53.567 [SPEAKER_01]: I decided to kind of just let it be. 07:54.269 --> 08:04.434 [SPEAKER_01]: Tales at some point had some exposition where he was like, you know, and then when there were radioactive energies combined, they all, you know, like he had this big thing he was doing where he is really getting into it. 08:04.675 --> 08:06.239 [SPEAKER_01]: And it was fun to write, don't get me wrong. 08:06.259 --> 08:08.785 [SPEAKER_01]: And that was in a version of the story that 08:09.237 --> 08:31.212 [SPEAKER_01]: Tails and Eggman were a bit more of like tech adversaries or let's say their tech conflict was a bit more central to the story of this at that time, but ultimately, when I was asked to do a big rewrite of this about two years ago, to really try and lock in and figure out the version that was going to satisfy, I did W Sega and Toco's needs in this. 08:32.170 --> 08:38.325 [SPEAKER_01]: I went and I read Grant Morrison's X-Men manifesto that they wrote before they did new X-Men. 08:39.287 --> 08:47.226 [SPEAKER_01]: And initially, if my inspiration had been kind of like days of future past, this is when I shifted to a more Morrison. 08:47.206 --> 08:51.094 [SPEAKER_01]: look at how I wanted to try and bring these two realities together. 08:51.134 --> 08:57.267 [SPEAKER_01]: And look, if you've read New X men, you know that there's not some big breach in reality per se. 08:57.347 --> 09:02.077 [SPEAKER_01]: Although, you know, Grant does explore some ideas like that with the world and other things. 09:02.578 --> 09:03.139 [SPEAKER_01]: However, 09:04.368 --> 09:14.140 [SPEAKER_01]: what I really took away from that X-Men manifesto is that we have a golden opportunity here for some, for lack of a better phrase, pop art storytelling, right? 09:14.460 --> 09:20.888 [SPEAKER_01]: We can take these aesthetic images that are so iconic, culturally around the world. 09:21.529 --> 09:27.637 [SPEAKER_01]: And we can put them together, and we don't have to spend all of our time telling people why they're together, they can just be together. 09:27.957 --> 09:29.599 [SPEAKER_01]: We can have fun now. 09:29.579 --> 09:38.112 [SPEAKER_01]: If we're fortunate enough to get the kind of orders that I think we're going to get for this first issue, that might open up the conversation with my editors about a seeing a sequel. 09:38.693 --> 09:44.701 [SPEAKER_01]: And I've already written a very brief outline for how I would like to see that sequel go. 09:44.722 --> 09:53.815 [SPEAKER_01]: And I have some ideas in there that get a bit deeper into the house and 09:53.930 --> 10:01.061 [SPEAKER_01]: merging is the wrong phrase, let's say, being able to pass between these ones Gunsillas, World and Sonic's World. 10:01.762 --> 10:03.164 [SPEAKER_01]: And if we get there, that would be great. 10:03.545 --> 10:08.513 [SPEAKER_01]: But if we don't get there, you're just going to have a fun crossover that's going to have some light sci-fi work. 10:08.933 --> 10:14.622 [SPEAKER_01]: I personally, as the writer, have a full explanation for how this dimension on breach has opened up. 10:14.602 --> 10:17.328 [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm like, I don't need to waste your time telling you the whole thing. 10:17.729 --> 10:26.809 [SPEAKER_01]: Just know that it's there, know that Tails has a theory, Tails understands, but Tails is often in his own knowledge, as I am in this case where he doesn't need to explain everything to you. 10:27.049 --> 10:29.655 [SPEAKER_01]: You can just enjoy the fun of this mash-up. 10:29.675 --> 10:30.737 [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, 10:30.717 --> 10:34.886 [SPEAKER_01]: where we bought the rest of that later if we move into the future with this combination. 10:35.286 --> 10:51.780 [SPEAKER_00]: See, I really feel like that's what are the best ways to approach writing because you could sometimes feel what you have a block of text in there like that like the writer is showing the work like they did the work so they're putting it into the script versus you can also feel it in the other direction when 10:52.553 --> 10:57.460 [SPEAKER_00]: somebody like you knows what you're doing and understands the way the story has to be structured. 10:57.520 --> 10:59.002 [SPEAKER_00]: It's there. 10:59.162 --> 11:01.405 [SPEAKER_00]: And if it's not, you could also feel that as well. 11:01.545 --> 11:03.728 [SPEAKER_00]: So kudos to you, sir. 11:03.848 --> 11:06.332 [SPEAKER_00]: I guess that feels like you best choice ultimately. 11:06.632 --> 11:07.293 [SPEAKER_01]: No, I agree. 11:07.353 --> 11:14.022 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I think ultimately, if I'm doing my job well, I, you are on your scene, the dialogue I've written. 11:14.525 --> 11:17.809 [SPEAKER_01]: your feeling, the pacing that I've written. 11:18.590 --> 11:24.878 [SPEAKER_01]: But you're swept up in the story and like any good film, cartoon, you know, any of these things. 11:26.060 --> 11:33.409 [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't necessarily require a detailed explanation as long as I never break your suspension of disbelief, right? 11:33.429 --> 11:43.182 [SPEAKER_01]: As long as you are always immersed in this story, as long as you're always hooked on our concept, and nothing seems to violate that. 11:44.123 --> 11:48.870 [SPEAKER_01]: then I did my job right and I don't need to show you every, I don't need to show you all my work. 11:48.910 --> 11:49.831 [SPEAKER_01]: This isn't a math test. 11:51.654 --> 11:53.797 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I have two specific questions for you. 11:53.817 --> 12:03.111 [SPEAKER_00]: The first one, it's not even, I will phrase it as a question, but I brought up to my son who is a much bigger sonic fan than I am that I was going to be talking to you later today. 12:03.151 --> 12:09.460 [SPEAKER_00]: And he said, oh, does metal sonic get involved in mechagodzilla at any point? 12:09.600 --> 12:12.004 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll put that to you, does metal sonic. 12:12.490 --> 12:21.184 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a great question, and I think it's very natural fit, and as fans know, there are some connections, them at Osanic's origin, in terms of designs and stuff like that. 12:21.264 --> 12:23.608 [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, there are all kinds of parallels that we can draw there. 12:23.688 --> 12:33.705 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to say this, there have been almost any character you can admit now, not every character, but almost any, let's say, 12:34.259 --> 12:39.847 [SPEAKER_01]: Sonic, I don't want to say a media family like the extended family, right? 12:39.867 --> 12:42.450 [SPEAKER_01]: We're not getting into the second and third cousins, right? 12:42.470 --> 12:53.145 [SPEAKER_01]: But almost anybody you can think of in Sonic lore, who's like a major player, has had some kind of version of being included in this story throughout development, however. 12:54.965 --> 12:59.863 [SPEAKER_01]: at some point in the process, I was asked, and then kind of bought into this. 13:00.987 --> 13:05.464 [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was a good ask, which was let's really try to focus. 13:05.647 --> 13:07.750 [SPEAKER_01]: on a classic corecast for the story. 13:08.550 --> 13:16.059 [SPEAKER_01]: So what you've seen so far in terms of our previews and the information's been released and covers, that's pretty much where you're getting. 13:16.580 --> 13:19.624 [SPEAKER_01]: Metal does not have a part to play in the story. 13:19.784 --> 13:27.433 [SPEAKER_01]: I know it's gonna bring some people's hearts to say that and there could be a version down the line where Metal gets involved in this combination. 13:27.513 --> 13:30.777 [SPEAKER_01]: However, as it exists right now, 13:30.892 --> 13:41.492 [SPEAKER_01]: They're certainly were outlines where a metal sonic was getting in on the mayhem, but at that initial time when I was doing a sizzle long time ago is maybe like 13:42.063 --> 14:01.540 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, three a few years ago, plus I was told, you know what, I don't think that we're able to let you use metal sonic at this point time, maybe because of the stinger at the end of sonic three date, you know, and they had some other plans or maybe there was some other thing going on at that time, I don't know if that would still be the case if. 14:01.925 --> 14:07.912 [SPEAKER_01]: metal had made it into our approved outline that really got locked in a little bit over a year ago. 14:08.493 --> 14:11.477 [SPEAKER_01]: But you know, as it exists right now, that wasn't an option. 14:11.637 --> 14:14.821 [SPEAKER_01]: I took metal off the table and metal didn't return to the table. 14:15.642 --> 14:17.184 [SPEAKER_01]: But we'll see what happens down the line. 14:17.204 --> 14:24.473 [SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, I know that that's heartbreaking for some of our fans out there and I really do understand 14:24.453 --> 14:27.118 [SPEAKER_01]: the desire to see the character in there. 14:27.599 --> 14:34.671 [SPEAKER_01]: I have a lot of characters who I wanted to try and fit in there where they were, you know, they have to say, I think that's a little too complicated for this first go around. 14:35.292 --> 14:38.859 [SPEAKER_01]: Or, you know, that's not something we're able to sign off on at this time. 14:39.300 --> 14:45.651 [SPEAKER_01]: It's tough, you know, you got a lot of different moving pieces in these and there's always some kind of, 14:45.631 --> 14:56.282 [SPEAKER_01]: business priorities running is an undercurrent with a license or that you that I'm not privy to in this case and as creators were often not privy to because I don't speak directly to Sega. 14:56.302 --> 15:11.858 [SPEAKER_01]: I speak to my editors who speak to Sega who then relate messages to me and you know as things have been relayed over time that that was one that it wasn't the right fit early on and didn't end up being a connection that I read through. 15:13.137 --> 15:15.000 [SPEAKER_00]: I have a question for you. 15:15.020 --> 15:16.282 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a very specific one. 15:16.362 --> 15:20.248 [SPEAKER_00]: And either I'm right out of the money here or going to sound to absolutely insane. 15:20.408 --> 15:24.294 [SPEAKER_00]: And I can't read this line for you, but I don't want to say it just in case it is a spoiler. 15:24.814 --> 15:26.317 [SPEAKER_00]: Is there a safety for this going? 15:26.337 --> 15:27.158 [SPEAKER_00]: OK, is there? 15:27.238 --> 15:29.181 [SPEAKER_00]: You're all waiting until you're about to sip it. 15:29.862 --> 15:31.945 [SPEAKER_00]: Just so you can do it. 15:31.965 --> 15:32.947 [SPEAKER_00]: OK, yeah, we'll just take care. 15:32.967 --> 15:33.948 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, here we go. 15:33.968 --> 15:38.655 [SPEAKER_00]: Is there a kiss from a rose joke in this issue? 15:39.850 --> 15:40.491 [SPEAKER_00]: I love that. 15:41.252 --> 15:42.033 [SPEAKER_01]: That's so good. 15:43.394 --> 15:44.356 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think so. 15:44.796 --> 15:45.958 [SPEAKER_01]: But maybe it's not too late. 15:46.538 --> 15:46.779 [SPEAKER_01]: All right. 15:46.999 --> 15:51.785 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'll say, I'll read the line, but I will say who says it. 15:52.546 --> 15:53.007 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, go on. 15:53.027 --> 15:53.267 [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me. 15:53.287 --> 15:59.675 [SPEAKER_00]: The line is, why don't you give it a kiss, Amy Rose, which I read as kiss from a rose. 15:59.975 --> 16:01.217 [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know. 16:01.357 --> 16:01.878 [SPEAKER_00]: That's good. 16:01.898 --> 16:02.278 [SPEAKER_00]: That's good. 16:02.538 --> 16:05.122 [SPEAKER_01]: You know what, I am. 16:05.142 --> 16:05.702 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, was it? 16:06.183 --> 16:07.765 [SPEAKER_01]: Was that what it was? 16:08.707 --> 16:37.870 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember, well, you know what Fony, I did on the very first time I was able to speak about this book with anybody outside of our title circle was when I went to the IDW offices about three months ago and I sat down with Chris Cantwell and we did like a one-on-one conversation and at the end Chris had written a few questions that he thought would be fun about us off of each other and one of them was what was a pitch that you put out there that was just too crazy they said 16:39.082 --> 16:42.748 [SPEAKER_01]: And one of them was a pitch I had called the Monsters Kiss. 16:43.790 --> 16:47.115 [SPEAKER_01]: And it was when I first, I wrote an issue of Godzilla Rivals a few years ago. 16:47.777 --> 16:51.603 [SPEAKER_01]: And I sent them three pitches and the first one was the one they picked. 16:51.623 --> 16:52.785 [SPEAKER_01]: The second one I didn't want to do. 16:53.266 --> 16:57.613 [SPEAKER_01]: And the third one was this is my wildest dream pitch, the Monsters Kiss. 16:57.593 --> 17:02.077 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I've probably just never let it go and that's probably why it ended up in there. 17:02.418 --> 17:06.722 [SPEAKER_01]: I think that was a piece of additional dialogue that we added during the lettering past. 17:07.162 --> 17:14.429 [SPEAKER_01]: After we read the first issue when we were like, I think this feels a little... We need more dialogue. 17:14.449 --> 17:15.150 [SPEAKER_01]: It feels a little emptying. 17:15.190 --> 17:15.791 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's add more. 17:16.251 --> 17:19.875 [SPEAKER_01]: It was a little bit underwritten in terms of our care expressing our characters' personalities. 17:20.535 --> 17:27.482 [SPEAKER_01]: And I guess yeah, that's just sort of, you know, my desire to write this story, the monster's 17:27.462 --> 17:30.366 [SPEAKER_01]: But now that you mentioned it, that's such, yeah, I'm going to claim it, though. 17:30.406 --> 17:31.468 [SPEAKER_01]: Can I clarify it? 17:31.508 --> 17:31.969 [SPEAKER_00]: You take it. 17:32.189 --> 17:33.852 [SPEAKER_00]: You take it and it'll make me feel better. 17:34.132 --> 17:37.717 [SPEAKER_00]: It'll make me feel better as like, oh, yeah, I cop this thing before anybody. 17:37.737 --> 17:39.280 [SPEAKER_01]: That means the Batman forever soundtrack. 17:39.320 --> 17:39.640 [SPEAKER_01]: Come on. 17:39.800 --> 17:41.222 [SPEAKER_01]: That's a unbelievable crap. 17:41.383 --> 17:42.344 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the wall bangers. 17:42.364 --> 17:43.165 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to take in that. 17:43.185 --> 17:44.047 [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks Alice. 17:44.067 --> 17:44.948 [SPEAKER_00]: No problem. 17:44.928 --> 18:12.741 [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't want to ask you a general question and we talked to a lot of Godzilla writers about this, but there is non-stop Godzilla coming out from every single publisher at this point, but the kind of the amazing joy of it is they're all different, like they're all very different takes from even from IDW getting a Sonic and Godzilla crossover side by side with Godzilla's 18:12.721 --> 18:16.993 [SPEAKER_00]: We kind of touched on like the appeal of Godzilla earlier, but why do you think that is? 18:17.093 --> 18:23.592 [SPEAKER_00]: Why do you think Godzilla right now very specifically for a comics has captured pop culture so much? 18:24.314 --> 18:45.664 [SPEAKER_01]: I think this is a great question, and since I've been working on Godzilla for the past three or four years, I've been asking myself this quite a bit because I've had an opportunity to go to lots of great places across the country, I may held some international spots to and see the passion and hunger for Godzilla that's going on right now. 18:46.606 --> 18:54.608 [SPEAKER_01]: To I am a theory I've been developing as I've met more and more young people who are fascinated with Godzilla. 18:55.820 --> 19:06.496 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think there's something about the metaphorical aspects of this character that really speaks to young people right now. 19:06.777 --> 19:10.062 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it's what they all went through with the pandemic. 19:10.082 --> 19:17.894 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it's the sort of existential dread that feels like it's floating around in the ether and our international politics right now. 19:17.914 --> 19:22.401 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure what it is exactly, but just like there was a time 19:23.427 --> 19:36.728 [SPEAKER_01]: 15, 20 years ago when zombies seemed to really speak to our existential dread, I think there's something about giant monsters right now that is really, it's like if a kid can somehow 19:38.260 --> 19:46.809 [SPEAKER_01]: be in contact with this monster, be thinking about it, understand it, they can somehow have control over this thing that they can't control otherwise. 19:47.871 --> 19:58.562 [SPEAKER_01]: And I've seen it with the way it expresses itself as these young people are like legitimate, Godzilla historians, they're coming up to me and they're asking me about different iterations. 19:58.683 --> 20:06.411 [SPEAKER_01]: And do I prefer Godzilla from 54 over Shoah, over Heisei, 20:06.391 --> 20:22.189 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, look, guys, these are great questions, like I just like all of it, you know, like it's not, you know, I have my favorite maybe like, you know, suit that they bore, whatever, but you know, it's to me, I'm seeing a depth of interaction with with young people in Godzilla that's really 20:23.114 --> 20:40.414 [SPEAKER_01]: their imaginations are just sparked and I think that's always been there because we see it for adult readers right now, the way that they're voraciously picking up all of these Godzilla comics and I think that comic books are a great way for us to it's easier than making a film sometimes mind-staking about as long as I feel. 20:40.394 --> 20:41.635 [SPEAKER_01]: But it's here. 20:41.876 --> 20:43.858 [SPEAKER_01]: It costs less at least than making a film. 20:43.878 --> 20:47.742 [SPEAKER_01]: It's easier to make an TV show in some ways comics. 20:47.802 --> 20:50.185 [SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't say it's easier than making a novel per se. 20:50.225 --> 20:53.429 [SPEAKER_01]: But the development timeline is sometimes shorter, right? 20:53.989 --> 21:01.097 [SPEAKER_01]: If they comics are a great way for us to take the ideas that have a immediacy and express them, right? 21:01.418 --> 21:05.102 [SPEAKER_01]: And express them multiple different ways at the same time because our, 21:05.082 --> 21:18.603 [SPEAKER_01]: comics reading fan base is very multi-versal literate in the sense that they are capable of concurrently reading fractions Batman and absolute Batman at the same time and never confusing the two of them. 21:18.623 --> 21:21.347 [SPEAKER_01]: Always understanding that these are operating in two different realities. 21:21.367 --> 21:25.133 [SPEAKER_01]: It's something that a lot of us have just, you know, since our, our 21:25.113 --> 21:31.986 [SPEAKER_01]: most formative days have been comfortable jumping into different iterations of characters co-existing simultaneously. 21:32.287 --> 21:42.245 [SPEAKER_01]: You see with the Ninja Turtles all the time, you know, when we were young, we could watch the Fred Wolf animated series and never confuse it with the Marange comics and the films and the video games. 21:42.285 --> 21:45.512 [SPEAKER_01]: We always knew that they were sort of operating on their own internal logic. 21:45.952 --> 21:48.437 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think we're seeing that with Godzilla right now. 21:48.417 --> 21:49.619 [SPEAKER_01]: We've got the monsters. 21:49.679 --> 21:51.121 [SPEAKER_01]: We've got the Marvel crossovers. 21:51.141 --> 21:52.463 [SPEAKER_01]: We've got the DC crossovers. 21:52.844 --> 21:59.254 [SPEAKER_01]: We've got the legendary monster versus comics, which are connected to the films, but maybe show us more than the films do. 21:59.614 --> 22:06.104 [SPEAKER_01]: And then we've got the plethora of stuff that I do don't use doing from monster piece to us to Kai's say. 22:06.685 --> 22:16.821 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that people have a hunger for this, but I do genuinely believe that a lot of this is currently fueled by the enthusiasm of our youth. 22:16.801 --> 22:18.523 [SPEAKER_01]: I can see it everywhere I go. 22:19.023 --> 22:28.051 [SPEAKER_01]: These young people are just so well educated on on total lore and it's unbelievable to see it. 22:28.171 --> 22:39.982 [SPEAKER_01]: It's exciting to see it and I'm thrilled that we as comic book readers get to benefit from this and I'm also thrilled as a comic book storyteller that I've had the opportunity to benefit from this. 22:40.022 --> 22:46.268 [SPEAKER_01]: I've worked on this will be my third Godzilla project 22:46.248 --> 22:48.972 [SPEAKER_01]: own tone and own lore to them. 22:49.793 --> 22:53.598 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's great as a storyteller to have that kind of flexibility. 22:55.100 --> 22:55.201 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 22:55.221 --> 23:01.089 [SPEAKER_00]: Just to loop back to Sonic the Edge, I got Zilla and kind of wrap up here a little bit. 23:01.449 --> 23:08.379 [SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about some of the details I've had, but is there anything in particular you're very excited for people to see in the book? 23:08.399 --> 23:10.602 [SPEAKER_00]: Other than it actually finally come again. 23:11.223 --> 23:20.922 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the biggie, honestly, and I'm really thrilled that this week has been when people finally started to have the opportunity to read it and the reactions that we've had so far. 23:20.942 --> 23:25.892 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so honored and appreciative of the time that people have taken to read the book and share their thoughts. 23:26.313 --> 23:30.261 [SPEAKER_01]: We've gotten our first two reviews and I believe that 23:30.241 --> 23:33.526 [SPEAKER_01]: The issue of itself is going out and I do W's press pack at the end of this week. 23:33.586 --> 23:38.774 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm so excited to see what happens next week when we get a ton of different reviews. 23:39.255 --> 23:40.357 [SPEAKER_01]: So that really is the biggie. 23:40.437 --> 23:44.223 [SPEAKER_01]: I think in terms of narrative aspects of our book. 23:45.946 --> 23:48.510 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, all of it, it's been with me for so long. 23:48.550 --> 23:51.895 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so close to it and it's all very dear to me. 23:52.178 --> 24:04.299 [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love the connection between Amy and Mothro that I've gotten to explore that for me is like, you know, in the most doubtful times that really fueled me to continue pushing forward with this on a personal level. 24:04.760 --> 24:07.825 [SPEAKER_01]: It was really fun to write and Amy really became. 24:07.805 --> 24:09.507 [SPEAKER_01]: a character I found a connection with. 24:09.587 --> 24:11.610 [SPEAKER_01]: I ended up getting an Amy tattoo last year. 24:12.511 --> 24:22.943 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, I just really loved what I was able to do with her and the sort of unique role that she was able to fill in this story. 24:22.963 --> 24:26.988 [SPEAKER_01]: So I hope people love the Amy that I've written as much as I loved writing her. 24:27.469 --> 24:31.213 [SPEAKER_01]: But there is one Mac often in this story that 24:31.193 --> 24:55.225 [SPEAKER_01]: was very challenging to settle on because that there was always going to be a McGuffin involved and at one point the McGuffin was the object that creates the capability for these two dimensions to cross over and you know through some complex planning and figuring out what didn't not work with the rules of these worlds that changed a lot through drafts. 24:55.305 --> 24:58.669 [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes it was a preexisting ones, and I'm as it was. 24:59.189 --> 25:13.989 [SPEAKER_01]: something entirely new, and we did settle on an original muckoffen that is no longer necessarily responsible for the breach in reality, but plays a very crucial part and what we're doing. 25:14.369 --> 25:20.337 [SPEAKER_01]: And I guess it's not only that I would love to see how people react to it, but I'd love to see it. 25:21.295 --> 25:32.030 [SPEAKER_01]: maybe if there was one thing from what we're doing that could slip into Sonic IDW continuity later on, I'd love to see this muguff and get in there because I just think it's a cool thing. 25:32.050 --> 25:41.903 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not the way we haven't seen anything like this at all before, but I think the possibilities that this object is able to offer are really fantastic and, um, 25:41.883 --> 25:42.805 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't know what we'll say. 25:43.085 --> 25:51.661 [SPEAKER_01]: It's something that certainly I love designing that, like we were saying, with the, the, the, the dimensional portal. 25:52.142 --> 25:58.653 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't necessarily need to explain all of my, you know, faux science behind it, but it's there. 25:58.814 --> 25:59.435 [SPEAKER_01]: It exists. 26:00.016 --> 26:01.719 [SPEAKER_01]: It's, I know how it works. 26:01.859 --> 26:05.005 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm excited to see if other people have their own theories about it. 26:05.137 --> 26:06.879 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm excited to check that out too. 26:06.979 --> 26:09.022 [SPEAKER_00]: Just your mind folks, we're listening out there. 26:09.122 --> 26:18.653 [SPEAKER_00]: Sonic the Hedgehog, Godzilla number one, where you don't pronounce the X, but you also don't say, don't pronounce the X. Pre-do orders are due June 8th. 26:18.814 --> 26:22.678 [SPEAKER_00]: It's on sale July 15th from IDW Nick. 26:22.698 --> 26:24.761 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for coming on in the absolute pleasure. 26:24.801 --> 26:25.842 [SPEAKER_00]: Really enjoyed the issue. 26:25.902 --> 26:28.085 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm looking forward to what's coming next. 26:29.086 --> 26:29.607 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you Alex. 26:29.687 --> 26:31.349 [SPEAKER_01]: It was really a joint to talk to you about this stuff. 26:31.369 --> 26:32.190 [SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate you. 26:37.013 --> 26:57.807 [SPEAKER_02]: I let's just turn back to nobody We're racing and I get again I want the beat that no don't mind We'll take time and see ourselves I can turn around Let's get this out of the sea Let's take time and look around 27:05.380 --> 27:21.195 [SPEAKER_02]: They sit on crappy couches and they let us see what we can And he's just nothing, they let us special guests speak So grab your ring, hammer, don't relay, or it'll fail, fail, fail